The first step out of the nest

I did it! I moved the bed out of the nursery, with fantastic results (I say that now, since night has not yet fallen, and I have not gone to sleep in the room across the hall from sweet Bug). I am very pleased with how the nursery looks though. The changing table is now next to the bathroom door, which is convenient for rinsing dipes and the too-frequent occurrence of Annabel peeing during changes. I hung watercolors of Seattle and Verona, purchased on trips to those respective cities, over the changing table for Bug to look at during changes so she will appreciate the importance of travel and seeing the world.

I'm also thrilled with the $25 chair I scored from a moving sale on craigslist. It made a perfect nook for nursing and reading books. I hung Annabel's art from the Dogwood festival and her first roller derby over it.

I think I'm ready for Annabel to have her own room. I know I've used the blog to indulge my feelings of not wanting Bug to grow up. However, I'm really very excited to meet the little girl she grows into. Sure, a huge part of me wants to stay curled up on the couch with her in my arms forever. But that is selfish. The more rational side of me is terrified of smothering her and wants to fling her headlong into the world screaming "Fly, Bug, fly!" I suppose that is the age-old tension in parenthood --wanting your child to flourish in the world while simultaneously wanting to hold her close and baby her, and I have not stumbled onto something new. It is new to me, though, and even as I type this, she is asleep in the crook of my left arm, which is perhaps what has emboldened me to say I'm ready for the next step.

Regardless, tomorrow is a big day too. I'm dropping Annabel off for two hours at my firm's daycare for a trial run. I'm so lucky to have that perk -- it is such a nice facility run by lovely people. I know Annabel will enjoy the company of other kids. Then in two weeks I'll be enjoying the company of other lawyers.

Hoppy Easter

We had a lovely first Easter with Annabel. We went to church, then had a fantastic brunch at Radial Cafe (biscuits and vegetarian gravy!) which Annabel slept through, then spent the rest of the day hanging out together at home as a family. Annabel was a trooper during church. She made it through the entire service and even went up with me for communion. She was wearing one of my dresses and bonnets. It was her first foray into the world of bonnets. Mom swears that I loved them as a baby (I really think that means that I let her put them on me without complaint), and Annabel didn't mind it a bit either. She did continue to untie the ribbon and put the edge of the ruffle in her mouth. She looked supercute, which is a good thing because there are tons of my bonnets awaiting her as she grows.

After brunch, our sweet little Bug indulged me through a ridiculous photo session that involved her sitting in her Easter basket, a stuffed chick prop, and an outfit change. I think I might have gotten a bit carried away. I tiptoe ever closer to the terrifying world of Anne Geddes. Someone needs to stop me before it is too late. Here is the most disapproving face I got.

Though it was followed by this one:

I think she likes her new friend

It was a swell day, though I'm excited about future egg hunts, egg dyeing, making sugar eggs, getting up at the crack of dawn to see what sweet treats the Easter bunny brought, and attempting to explain the importance of Easter without it being terrifying or trivial.

I set the goal that we would take the bed out of Annabel's room on Easter and start sleeping in our bedroom again. Fox and I realized that we weren't quite ready yet and maybe Easter wasn't the right day to make this big change. I'm pretty sure this is a much harder change for us than for Annabel, but regardless, we are planning to go through with it on Wednesday. I am excited about rearranging the nursery to be more nursery-like, which has been somewhat impeded by the presence of the bed. I just find myself very resistant to change in a time that is filled with constant change. But Easter is about a major change, right? Can I do it? Check back and see.

Until then, The Foxes Three signing off!

And baby makes three (months, that is)

Tonight, my dear, sweet Annabel Jane turns three months old. And my, my it has certainly flown by. Yesterday I packed up several of her cute outfits that she's already outgrown, much to my dismay. She has started chatting constantly, mostly saying "Whooooo" -- sometimes insistently, and sometimes in a more relaxed, drawn-out manner (I would like to think this is because she is cognizant of her owl theme, but really "whoooo" is just fun to say. Seriously, try it). She can do a baby push up, where she lifts her whole chest off the floor and turns her head 180 degrees. She laughs in her sleep. She loves to be read books and poems. She has started picking up toys and shaking them around. She smiles when I act silly. In short, she is seeming less like a baby and more like a little girl each day, no matter how hard I try to hold on to her baby-ness.

As resistant as I already am to my baby growing up, I do love to watch other things grow. I mentioned that I come from two long lines of farmers, so it is probably in my blood to take great delight from digging in the dirt and watching plants spring forth. So, last week, we planted our garden on Annabel's twelve-week birthday. Two years ago we built a raised bed in the backyard and have had success with collards, various peppers, and tomatoes. This year, we got a cherry tomato varietal, a regular tomato varietal, spaghetti squash, a bell pepper, and our collards. I'm hoping our collards will come up -- we planted them from seed that we have used in previous years.

Also, my beloved yellow colander that we got as a wedding gift has started to shed its enamel, thus making me fear it is no longer food safe. I was delaying throwing it away because I like it so much, when Southern Living came to the rescue. The good writers there recommend using old colanders to plant strawberries, which thrive with good drainage. So we are trying it out. It sure would be nice to have strawberries this summer that I know aren't full of pesticide. Not to mention the mere thought that I could successfully execute something from Southern Living makes me positively giddy.

I hope Annabel likes to watch plants grow and dig in the dirt too. You may notice that she isn't too excited in her photo with the gardening supplies. But don't worry, once I described what we were doing with the plants, I got a much more positive response.

We had a big weekend. It's festival time in Atlanta, which is one of the best things about the city. Atlantans are not scared of throwing a festival for any occasion and do so constantly from April to September. On Saturday we went to the Sweetwater festival in Candler Park. The weather was gorgeous, so the festival was packed. We heard some great music and had a good Sweetwater beer, as we normally do at the festival. However, this year we also spent a good deal of time in the family area, which was new for us. Annabel was of course too young for the playground and bounce houses, but I think she liked being around the other kids (and I liked having her out of the crowd, though she was as cool as a cucumber there too).

On Sunday, we went to the Dogwood Festival, which is an art festival in Piedmont Park, 3 blocks from our house. Actually, Annabel and I went through the festival on Friday too as part of our daily walk in the park. I never realized that the festival gets fired up that early, since every other year I'm at work on Fridays. But our real day at the festival was Sunday because we went as a family. Fox and I enjoyed a fantastic lunch from Soul Vegetarian -- those guys make a mean vegan plate of barbequed tofu, collards, and mac n' cheese. We strolled and looked at art, hoping to get something nice for Annabel to call her own when she's old enough. We got a great piece by a local artist who does really great acrylics on wood of Atlanta signage. We picked out one depicting some of our favorite places, and figure Annabel can take it with her to her first place (if I ever let her move out of the house). The Dogwood Festival was also packed, but we had a lovely time. What can we say, the kid likes crowds! Or maybe she is excited about her art.

Thanks for checking in with us. Check back next week for an Easter edition of The Foxes Three. Will Annabel catch the Easter Bunny? Will she be confused as to what he has to do with the resurrection of Jesus? Will I be able to remove the bed from her nursery and sleep in a different room from her? The answers to these burning questions await you soon dear reader, but for now, signing off as a three month old...

Mules Rule

I've been a Georgian for almost six years now. Before that however, I was all Tennessee -- eighteen years in Columbia, four in Knoxville, and three in Nashville. In all the places I've lived, my hometown has always been able to draw me home the first weekend in April for a very special occasion -- Mule Day. I was so excited to share that special day with my daughter this year.

Mule Day has gotten strangely popular in recent years. It was identified as a major terrorist target by the Department of Homeland Security after 9/11, and in a popular article, The New York Times used this as an illustration of ridiculousness in the department. Larry the Cable Guy's new series Only in America profiled Mule Day. Last year, Naomi Judd was the Grand Marshall. No matter how popular or unpopular it may become, it is one of my favorite days. I feel sorry for those who don't go home once a year to stand in front of the funeral home and watch a two-hour parade devoted to a sterile creature not intended by God or to the county park where the good prisoners are let out of jail for the day to load cinder blocks onto sleds behind teams of mules to see which can pull the most weight. It's a great reason to see family and friends who live far away.

Annabel enjoyed the parade and was on her best behavior. We invited some of our friends who have recently moved to Nashville to watch the parade with us and to come to my parent's house for a big southern lunch. Mom pulled out all the stops with a new grit recipe (featuring Rotel!), pimento cheese sandwiches, turnip greens, field peas, homemade biscuits, and two kinds of pie (chess and chocolate fudge...nom, nom, nom). We ate ourselves silly. Annabel took a nap.

We also got brave and took Annabel to church. She napped all the way until mid-sermon, when all indications were that we might have a diaper situation. I took her out to check, but it was a false alarm.

We also took the opportunity of being in Tennessee for Annabel to visit my mom's family farm, which is in Carthage (really Dixon Springs, if you want to be precise). I'm the first generation on both sides of my family to not grow up on a farm, which is a shame because I really enjoy farms. The upside is that I would not know Mule Day had I grown up on either of the family farms, and really life would be far less rad without Mule Day. We had nice weather and took lots of pictures. Annabel seemed to enjoy herself and looked supercute in her jeans.

The farmhouse my mother and grandfather grew up in is in the background, and the mounting block for getting on your horse is in the foreground. Much cuteness is in the middle. My great grandfather had the farmhouse built in the 1890's

Swinging on the front porch. Good times. We're back in Atlanta now, hoping to plant our garden this weekend. It's the Foxes' little urban slice of farm, if you will. I leave you with a parting shot of Mule Day -- Annabel and her pops, enjoying the parade. Until next year, mules...

Time makes you bolder, even children get older

The last few weeks have been a blur. Wednesday marked the halfway point of my maternity leave, meaning the glass is now half empty. Annabel's feelings about this can best be summed up in the photo to the left. This is the ridiculous cry she does that sounds like a cartoon -- she just goes "wah!" all long and drawn out. It makes me laugh every time, which is good because I've also been doing some crying. Last week, Annabel grew out of all her newborn footie pajamas. She could no longer straighten her legs in them, and as much as I wanted to keep her in the only clothes she's ever worn, the ones she's wearing in all my memories of her, I had to wash them, fold them up in a box, and put them in the closet. And cry. She's growing up so fast. She feels heavy now, and I'm thinking forward to when she won't want me to hold her. She'll want to scoot and run around. Then she'll start telling me "no." Then she'll tell me I'm mean. Then she'll tell me I'm embarrassing her. It goes on and on. And I never thought I'd be like this. Babies grow up, they get more interesting and funny. I just didn't expect her to be such a rad baby. It's going to be hard.

Uncle Bill came to visit all the way from Denver at the end of February. He and Fox took Annabel to her first restaurant -- Sweet Melissa's in Decatur. We also took Annabel to her first movie, the very age-appropriate Black Swan. Even though we went to the art theater by our house in Midtown, we got some seriously disapproving looks from some Judgy McJudgersons. Annabel was an angel -- she spent the whole movie eating and napping under the nursing cover, not making a peep. I think she was on her best behavior to impress Uncle Bill so he'll teach her to ski when she's big enough.

We went to Tennessee the first weekend in March to visit my grandmother, Annabel's great-grandmother, who we call Goose. This was a very exciting visit for many reasons. Annabel is Goose's first great-grandchild, and Goose turns 89 this year. Also, my mom's sister Ann came to visit Goose, so she got to meet her first great-niece. And finally, Annabel executed the greatest baby photo of all time. We lined up for a very serious four generation photo, dressing Annabel in one of my baby dresses. As soon as my dad said "three" in the photo countdown, Annabel unleashed a torrent of spit-up. We had not yet realized what had transpired, so we are all smiling the very serious "this is a very important photo" smiles as the barf rains down upon Goose. I don't do it justice with words, so here it is:

Like I said, Annabel is a pretty rad baby. We laughed until we cried. After the visit to Goose's, we spent some time at my parents' house. It was great -- I was well-fed with mom's delicious home cooking, she did my laundry, and they entertained Annabel while I enjoyed luxuries such as baths. Mom got the crib that Bill and I slept in out of the attic for Annabel to play in during the day. She figured out how to make it rock and had a blast in it.

I also could not resist taking Annabel's picture on the antique doll bed that my great-grandmother had made for my mom. I know it is coming close to the heinous territory of too-cute baby photos occupied by Anne Geddes, but I think we stayed on the safe side of that thin line.

In other, nonphotographed news, Saturday before last, Fox's band played an acoustic show at the Red Light Cafe, which is one block behind our house. It was an all-ages show, so we were able to attend and sit in the back room, where we could hear the show at a reasonable level. Annabel had fun, though she did sleep through part of the show. She's probably the first person to ever sleep through one of Fox's performances, but I don't think he was offended.

On Saturday, Annabel turned two months old. To celebrate, we went to the roller derby. Atlanta has a great roller derby scene. Once a month, there are two bouts (that's what you call roller derby matches), one between two of the Atlanta Roller Derby teams and one between the Atlanta all-star team and a visiting team. This takes place, I kid you not, at the Shriner Temple that looks like the Taj Mahal. It's always a big event and sells out if you wait too long to get tickets. We only went to the first bout, which was won by the Apocalypstix by a mere ten points. We were afraid that two bouts would be pushing it for Annabel's first time. She was a total champ, giving everyone smiles. We want Annabel to see that girls can do pretty much whatever they want, be tough, fearless, and have fun (now watch her grow up to become the next Ann Coulter as the ultimate rebellion [sheds tear]). Unfortunately I forgot our camera, so I took a couple of pictures of her at the derby with my phone, but have no idea how to get them from the phone to the computer. It probably involves some type of texting, which totally eludes me. Just imagine her smiling as girls on skates go by in the background.

Here's a parting shot for you of her current activity, which affords me the ability to blog.

Major Mom Ups

Being a mom has its downs. No sleep. Forgetfulness. Poop and barf. These days I feel like I'm working with 2/3 of a brain (example: excerpt from last week's post -- "because it's because." Really? Ugh. I promise English is, in fact, my first language.). I'm going to excuse this behavior with the fact that I have not slept for more than four consecutive hours in the last six weeks. Excellent segue -- Annabel is now six weeks old. Six weeks ago right now, I was in labor and nauseated. For all these downs, the ups certainly win. Here are some of my favorite mom ups:

Really cute clothes are a major up. We love this onesie from Jenn and Jana. Also visible is an adorable pink cloth diaper from the Feases (more on these later) and some Mary Jane socks previously worn by Rachel's dear Lucy. Annabel is stoked to look so cute.

The Moby wrap is pretty boss (thanks, Lioons!). Ignore the unwashed hair and unmade bed in the background. I put Annabel in the Moby wrap today, and we walked around the park for a couple hours. Annabel went right to sleep, and I got a good workout with 8lbs. 11 ozs. of adorable strapped to me. It's like being externally pregnant.

"Mom, you aren't putting this on the internet, right?" We've been using cloth diapers for a week now. I was so excited about them during pregnancy -- I did tons of research on different kinds, the logistics of washing them, and other dos and don'ts (for example, you aren't supposed to use any diaper creams with them, as the zinc in those products will cause the diapers to repel water instead of absorb it [and by water, I mean pee]. Instead, if the little one gets a rash, you are supposed to put coconut oil on them).


I'm not going to lie -- once I took this baby home, I got really nervous about using the cloth diapers. I hated the trash they made and the weird absorby chemicals that were being strapped to my baby with each one, but they are just so dang convenient. I used up the disposable newborn diapers we were given (thanks, Steph -- they were a life-saver), and by then Annabel had a little diaper rash. Cloth is supposed to be easier on the skin than the disposables, so I held my breath, put the diapers on their smallest setting (they are all adjustable one-size diapers that will grow with her), and jumped in. It has been tons easier than I imagined and the diaper rash disappeared immediately. The cloth diapers successfully contain even the biggest poopsplosians and peepocolypses without leaks (which the disposables didn't always do), and they wash out clean. I have to wash a load every third day. Honestly, baby poop isn't that gross -- it is just a mild yellow semi-liquid that smells vaguely of yogurt (my apologies to anyone who may be eating yogurt while reading this). I've heard this changes once the baby starts eating solids, so I don't have to worry about it for four and half months. Thus, we will ignore the fact of impending stinkies for the time being.


We've been using BumGenius 4.0s, Flips, and Charlie Banana one size diapers, for anyone interested. I give a thumbs up to all three. The BumGenius and Charlie Banana diapers are pocket diapers, which means there is a pocket inside the diaper where a microfiber insert is stuffed to absorb and wick moisture away from the baby. The Flips are a cover in which an insert is laid with a soft side against the skin and microfiber on the other side of the insert. We are also doing some prefolds with a Thirsties Duo cover. These are good too, but the ease factor goes to the aforementioned diapers. The best feature of the Flips and the Thirsties is that the cover can be reused between washes with a fresh insert. Send me an email if you want to talk more about cloth diapers. I can nerd out about them pretty hard. Big thanks to my friend Sara Z. for answering my questions and encouraging me and to the Feases and Emily B. for their support in the form of diapers.


Finally, the biggest up of all. This face.

She's six weeks old and super!

The Cutest Excuse

I have been a bad blogger. However, I get a pass because it's because I've been a good mother (I think/hope). I knew motherhood would be demanding, but I didn't realize that Annabel would want to be held all the time. Now, I'm more than happy to indulge the little snuggler, but it has led to great neglect in all other aspects of my life.

The most important thing to me is for Annabel to feel safe and secure in this big, terrifying world so she can develop her own independence. This is going to require plenty of comfort from mom. When you think about it, being born must be absolutely the scariest thing of all time from the baby's perspective. I mean, you read my account of it, which many of you have told me was superscary, and I knew what was going on (for the most part). I can't even imagine going through that from the baby's end with no clue as to what's happening. One minute you are in a warm, dark, snug place and the next minute, there's yelling, bright lights, and vastness. It's probably for the best that no one remembers their birth or the months during which you try to cope with the world outside the womb.



Today was the first day we ventured into the real world since Annabel is now a month old and finally has some semblance of an immune system. Now that we have groceries and some needed Babies R' Us items, we can get ourselves in order. I'm even wearing actual clothes these days instead of pajamas (though I do continue to spend a hefty amount of time in pajamas).


Above: Two weeks old with the special blanket from our dear friend Jeanette.

Below: Valentine's Day -- our first stroll to the park






Making her W face (political humor alert)











One month old -- snuggling with Pops







At her first band practice. Don't worry-- it was acoustic and she only visited (Come see Bellwether Station's acoustic show March 12 at Red Light Cafe!!)